The negotiations between the Sui and Tang dynasties have entered the third round, and Wei Yunqi, the official secretary, as the plenipotentiary representative of the regent Zhang Xuan, put forward three major conditions to the Tang side, first, the Sui army can withdraw from Pujin Pass and Hedong City, but the Tang side must pay the price, Wei Yunqi offered a sky-high price of one million stone grain, but this is only the first condition.

The second condition was that the Tang side must hand over the 10,000 artisan households living in Guanzhong to the Sui Dynasty; The third condition was even more unacceptable to the Chang'an side, the Tang side must recognize that Shangdang County and Changping County belonged to the Sui Dynasty, and on this basis, re-sign the armistice agreement between the two sides.

These three conditions were resolutely opposed by Wen Daya, but he had no decision-making power, so he sent an eagle letter back to Chang'an overnight for instructions.

As Wen Daya expected, these three extremely harsh conditions also aroused the strong indignation of the Tang Dynasty monarchs and ministers in Chang'an, especially represented by Li Shimin, the main battle faction, who strongly demanded that the cities and lands forcibly occupied by the Sui army be recaptured by war, and never retreated.

Li Shimin won the unanimous support of the courtiers, and at this time, Li Jiancheng, the crown prince of the lord and peace, was also forced to change his attitude and had to agree to Li Shimin's plan, supplemented by war, to make concessions from the central capital.

Li Yuan then made up his mind and ordered Li Shimin to command an army of 30,000 to launch a full-scale attack on Pujin Pass.

In the imperial study of the Wude Palace, Li Jiancheng said to Li Yuan, the son of heaven, worriedly: "Erchen can understand everyone's anger, but if we can recapture the land of the state in a battle, why should we send people to negotiate in the capital, Erchen is afraid that he will not be able to take the state, and there is no room for bargaining." ”

"You think we can't take it?"

Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "Maybe we can take Pujin Pass, but Hedong City is tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, relying only on 30,000 troops, Erchen feels that it is not realistic, not to mention Shangdang County and Changping County, if we reach an agreement through negotiations, we can at least take back Hedong City, but if the soldiers meet each other, and we can't take Hedong City, then what should Taiyuan do?" Father, it's easy to be angry, but it's hard to be calm! ”

Li Yuan paced back and forth in the room with his hands in his hands, the eldest son's words were not unreasonable, but the conditions offered by Zhongdu were outrageous, even if he Li Yuan was the Son of Heaven, he couldn't risk the disapproval of the world to agree to Zhongdu's conditions!

After a while, Li Yuan couldn't help but sigh and said: "I also want to calm down, but the conditions put forward by Zhongdu are too much, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty unanimously support King Qin to fight, what else can I say?" I can only hope that the Tang army will be victorious and take Pujin Pass and Hedong City. ”

Li Jiancheng was silent for a moment, and he finally didn't say, 'What if I can't take it?' In this sentence, he could understand the helplessness of his father, who was held hostage by the official will of the Manchu Dynasty and had to agree to send troops.

Li Jiancheng stopped mentioning this matter, and changed the topic: "Father, regarding the recruitment of soldiers, the sons have come up with a specific plan, which has been transferred to the Ministry of War, and I hope that my father will approve the implementation as soon as possible." ”

At present, the number of troops of the Tang army is only 150,000, while the Sui army has 250,000 troops, and it is said that it is preparing to expand the army to 350,000.

Judging from the number of troops, the Sui army had far surpassed the Tang army, which made the whole court feel great pressure, especially the embarrassment shown by the Sui army during the surprise attack of the Eastern Expedition, which made every minister realize that if the Tang Dynasty had enough troops to defend Guanzhong and Bingzhou, then the Qin king would not be forced to withdraw his troops when he was victorious.

In a short period of time, the imperial court has reached a consensus to increase the number of troops to 200,000, but Li Shimin's request to increase the number of troops to 350,000 made many ministers hesitate slightly, they were worried that the imperial court could not afford such a large military expenditure, but in the end everyone reached a compromise, first to increase the number of troops to 270,000, and then gradually increase the number of troops to 350,000 within three years.

Of course, Li Yuan knew the serious consequences of insufficient troops, and he immediately said to Li Jiancheng: "I will approve the recruitment plan today, you go and prepare first!" ”

Pujin Pass is a natural danger for the state, connected with a long iron chain bridge and the other side of the Yellow River, but Pujin Pass is not a natural danger to Guanzhong, because Pujin Pass and Guanzhong are connected by land, its military defense capability can only be regarded as a slightly difficult to attack pass.

At present, there are 3,000 Sui troops stationed in Pujin Pass, and the guard general is Wang Xuanjing, who is Wei Chi Gongai, and a few miles west of Pujin Pass, 15,000 Tang troops under the leadership of General Li Shentong have built a large camp to confront the Sui army, but so far, the Tang army has only to prevent the Sui army from entering the pass, and has not recaptured Pujin Pass.

On this morning, Li Shimin led an army of 15,000 to Pujin Pass, and together with Li Shentong's army, a total of 30,000 troops will participate in the battle to recapture Pujin Pass and Hedong City.

Surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, Li Shimin rode to the pass, and he looked at the pass from a distance hundreds of paces, although he had passed through the Pujin Pass more than once, but it was the first time that he looked at the Xiongguan from the west, from a military point of view.

Pujin Pass is to build a hill above, behind the mountain is the surging Yellow River, the hill is lush with trees, the boulder stands, a straight mountain road leads directly to the Xiongguan on the hill, but the mountain road is not steep, nor is it long, only more than 80 steps.

Li Shimin pointed at the pass with a horsewhip and smiled at Li Shentong: "Third Uncle has seen it, although Pujin Pass looks majestic, it is actually not difficult to beat." ”

Li Shentong and the Sui army confronted each other for more than 20 days, and had already figured out every detail of this pass, Li Shimin said this, he smiled and said: "The biggest advantage of this pass is that it has the Yellow River natural danger, but for us, the Yellow River natural danger is gone, and there are too many trees on the mountain, huge rocks are towering, and the trees are even close to the city wall, which is convenient for the attacking soldiers to cover, so that although the pass looks majestic, it is not difficult to capture it." ”

"Then why didn't the third uncle take it?"

Li Shimin's tone was very flat, but there was a trace of dissatisfaction in his eyes, this pass could obviously be captured, but Li Shentong had 15,000 people but refused to contribute, just pinning his hopes on negotiations.

"This saint has not issued an order to tackle key problems, and as a courtier, of course, it is not good to send troops without authorization."

"But the Holy Lord didn't give up Pujin Pass, Third Uncle, I'm right!" Li Shimin glanced at Li Shentong with a smile.

Li Shentong heard the dissatisfaction in Li Shimin's tone, he sighed and said: "Shimin, please rest assured, this time Pujin Pass was lost in He Panyi's hands, and it can be regarded as a loss in my hands, no matter what, I will definitely take the lead and recapture Pujin Pass." ”

But what Li Shimin wants is not for Li Shentong to take the lead, what he wants is for Li Shentong to hand over the army to him, and he will unify and coordinate the battle.

After a moment of silence, Li Shimin said: "This time, I recaptured Pujin Pass and Hedong City by the will of my father, and my father gave 30,000 troops, in addition to the 15,000 troops I brought, there are 15,000 people in the hands of the third uncle, I need to command this army with full authority, and I don't want to trouble the third uncle." ”

Li Shimin said very bluntly, that is, he wanted Li Shentong to hand over the army and put him under unified command.

Li Tang also had many factions within the Tang Dynasty, which was directly related to Li Yuan's establishment of the Tang Dynasty, when Li Shimin was the governor of the left capital, controlling the army of Taiyuan and the Sui army of Chang'an, which later surrendered, Li Jiancheng became the governor of the right capital, and the 30,000 troops in his hands were brought by him from Hanoi County.

In addition, Li Yuanji served as the left-behind guard in Taiyuan, and he also controlled 50,000 left-behind troops in the state, and he would never hand over this military power.

In addition, there are the Bashu Army controlled by Li Xiaogong and the 30,000 Guanzhong Army controlled by Li Shentong.

Li Shentong's army was originally a bandit in Guanzhong, but after being incorporated by him, he was included in his command, and his generals such as the Qiu Shili brothers, He Panren brothers, Sheng Yanshi and others were included.

Therefore, Li Shentong admitted that it was his responsibility that He Panyi did not hold the Pujin Pass, and the logic was precisely because the Pujin Pass defenders were his army.

Li Shimin's frank and outspoken words made Li Shentong's face a little ugly, but he couldn't refuse Li Shimin's request, which was a clear indication in the holy decree.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Shentong had to nod, "Okay!" I am willing to assist Shimin in seizing Pujin Pass and Hedong City, I am only giving advice, and the army will be handed over to the commander of Shimin for the time being. ”

Li Shentong deliberately emphasized the word 'temporary', and he must also be in the army to prevent Li Shimin from purging and reorganizing his army.

Li Shimin sneered in his heart, and then smiled slightly: "The third uncle knows the righteousness and understands the reason, and the little nephew admires it very much, he will rectify the siege equipment tonight, and attack Pujin Pass early tomorrow morning." (To be continued.) )